Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks at the opening ceremony of Hotel Indigo in Los Angeles, the United States on March 31, 2017.(Xinhua/Yang Lei)

by Shen Chenchen

LOS ANGELES, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Over 3,000 construction workers, 400 employees, 150 hotel staff ... Hotel Indigo Downtown Los Angeles, the very first hotel built by Chinese real estate developer Greenland in North America, opened Friday, bringing job opportunities to the city.

This 18-story hotel with 350 rooms is located only a few blocks away from Los Angeles Convention Center and Staples Center. This project has created thousands of jobs for local residents.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the hotel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said, "5.5 million hours worked on this project, that is about half a billion dollar in payroll to people who live here."

The hotel's first year operating revenue is predicted to be over 24 million U.S. dollars, which will bring over 5 million dollars of tax to the city.

People are watching the performance of the lion dance at the opening ceremony of Hotel Indigo in Los Angeles, the United States, on March 31, 2017.(Xinhua/Yang Lei)

Hotel Indigo is a part of Greenland USA's 1 billion Metropolis development project in downtown LA. The 6.3-acre Metropolis plan for office towers, retail space and a hotel, was first announced in 1987. However, the economic downturn had stalled the project for years, until Greenland brought the land three years ago.

"We've transformed a patch of dirt in just a few years into this spectacular building that surround us," Garcetti said, "we do not just come here to mark history, but to make history, and to recognize a new Los Angeles literarily been built up in front of our eyes."

In addition to the hotel, Metropolis also include three condominium towers with more than 1,800 units, which makes it the biggest under construction project in LA. The entire Metropolis project will bring over 15,000 job opportunities to the city, which Garcetti considered it as LA's "center piece of this economic resurgence."

"We just got the latest unemployment here ... we are now at 4.8 percent, we have more jobs here than ever in our city's history," the mayor added.

Yun Zhang, Executive Vice-President of Greenland, speaks in an interview with Xinhua News Agency at the opening ceremony of Hotel Indigo in Los Angeles, the United States, on March 31, 2017. (Xinhua/Gao Shan)

"Many industries will be involved in one project, including design, construction, management and many more, which bring more jobs for more local people," Yun Zhang, Executive Vice-President of Greenland told Xinhua, "for us (as a foreign investor), it is a great opportunity to expand our overseas market. It is really a win-win project."

Liu Haiyan, Counsellor for Commercial Affairs, Consulate General of China in LA, pointed out that the annual China-U.S. financial trade is over 500 billion U.S. dollars, the annual two-way investment is over 140 billion dollars, more than 5 million tourists travel between China and the United States every year, the U.S.-China trading investment relationship has created 2.6 million jobs in the United States.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Hotel Indigo in Los Angeles, the United States, on March 31, 2017.(Xinhua/Gao Shan)

For Chinese investors, Los Angeles is a favored city. In 2016, 110 Chinese companies invested a total of over 1.1 billion dollars in LA. About 7 percent of all Chinese investments in the U.S. real estate settled in LA.

"We will have more and more Chinese investors and developers coming into this area here," Jolyon Bulley, COO of InterContinental Hotels Group America, told Xinhua at the opening ceremony.

"We are so proud that ... we see the strength of the China-U.S. relationship embodies here in Los Angeles more powerfully than any where else," Garcetti said. Enditem